Floppy Drive

[1zman]

Here is one that should be easy, but I am probably making it hard.

System is:
Asus AB-BX6 - Award Bios
400Mhz Slot 1 Celeron
HP-RW
Win XP Pro

When I set up this computer eons ago, I was using a FDD and an LS120 drive. The FDD showed as B: and the LS120 as A:. No problem as the LS120 will read 1.44 floppies. BUT now the LS120 has gone to the great peripheral junk pile in the sky, and I still can not get the FDD to read as A:.

Bios sees it as A:. I have tried 3 cables. I have tried both of the connectors on the cable(yes I remembered that). And I changed out the drive.

I am using this system as a server and periodically as a work station. The person using it is, well lets put it nicely, computer stupid. When they put a floppy in to copy a word processor file, even with a note on the monitor, they can't do it. "Because their other computer has an A: drive and it looks just like this one". !@#$%&*

I remember swapping A/B drive associations in Win98 through the registry, but can not find my notes on the subject. Any ideas??
Thanks
1zman

 

[jrbarnett]

You can change the letters of hard drive partitions from Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk management.
Under my system running 2K I can't change the assignment of the floppy but can of the hard drive partitions, but am not sure about XP.

John

 

[1zman]

John...... Same goes for XP

Thanks
1Zman

 

[bcastner]

How to Change Drive Letters:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q223/1/88.ASP

Summary:


To change or swap drive letters on volumes that cannot otherwise be changed using the Disk Management snap-in, use the following steps.
NOTE: In these steps, drive D refers to the (wrong) drive letter assigned to a volume, and drive C refers to the (new) drive letter you want to change to, or to assign to the volume.
This procedure swaps drive letters for drives C and D. If you do not need to swap drive letters, simply name the \DosDevice\letter: value to any new drive letter not in use.

Log on as an Administrator.
Start Regedt32.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Click MountedDevices.
On the Security menu, click Permissions.
Check to make sure Administrators have full control. Change this back when you are finished with these steps.
Quit Regedt32.exe, and then start Regedit.exe.
Go to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
Find the drive letter you want to change to (new). Look for "\DosDevices\C:".
Right-click \DosDevices\C:, and then click Rename.
NOTE: You must use Regedit instead of Regedt32 to rename this registry key.
Rename it to an unused drive letter "\DosDevices\Z:". (This will free up drive letter C: to be used later.)
Find the drive letter you want changed. Look for "\DosDevices\D:".
Right-click \DosDevices\D:, and then click Rename.
Rename it to the appropriate (new) drive letter "\DosDevices\C:".
Click the value for \DosDevices\Z:, click Rename, and then name it back to "\DosDevices\D:".
Quit Regedit, and then start Regedt32.
Change the permissions back to the previous setting for Administrators (this should probably be Read Only).
Restart the computer.

 

[jrbarnett]

Thanks 1zman. I didn't have an XP machine around to check it on, the only one I have access to is my sister's laptop which is in her university room, abt 100 miles away but I knew XP and 2K were very similar, probably more so than MS would have us believe.

 

[1zman]

Thanks bcastner;
I had tried your fix last night, but when I got to the bit regarding the security menu I got lost. Putz around with it this afternoon and figured it out(after seeing your post). Followed your info to the letter and it kind of worked. I was able to get A: to be A: but the CD-RW became Dnew) and Fold), the HP Printer memory card became Bnew) and Eold). Went back in and removed the duplicate designations but they came back after reboot. Restored the system to the way it was and tried again. Same results. I guess Bill knows best.(gates)

Thanks again
1Zman

 

[azpctech01]

have you tried going into the bios and changing the drive assignment? depending on the BIOS it should be in advanced chipset properties? Just a shot in the dark

It's been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies."

 

[1zman]

Thanks azpctech01;
I had tried that, but XP still assigned it as IT wanted.